Civil Society in Transition Workshop, June 2014

From June 23rd to June 25th we held a Smart CSOs introductory workshop at the La Bergerie eco-farm near Paris. It brought together activists/civil society change agents with a common inquiry about how to ‘break out of the system trap’ and work effectively towards systemic change.

At the workshop we explored how to effectively promote the much-needed transition to a new economic system based on the principles of ecological limits, solidarity, human wellbeing and intergenerational justice and how to embrace the complexity of systemic change in civil society’s strategies, campaigns and projects. This included important questions like:

How can we tell and live stories that transform our current consumerist/expansionist culture?

How can we create cross-sectoral movements that build real momentum for system change?

How can we get involved in the exciting innovation process of creating the new system/economy?

How can we change our own organisations to become fit for system change?

What does it really take to forge new paths in times of radical change?

We used participative methods for pro-active and collective learning around pressing questions from the participant’s own practice. State-of-the-art knowledge was brought in through readings, short videos and short presentations.